US Secretary of State Antony Blinken faces a second day of tough congressional questions about the Biden administration’s much-criticised withdrawal from Afghanistan
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, on September 14, 2021 in Washington, DC.
The top two members of the committee, New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez and Idaho Republican James Risch, both assailed the withdrawal as a debacle in their opening remarks. “The withdrawal was a dismal failure,” said Risch, the ranking GOP member of the panel, accusing the administration of “ineptitude” that has cost the United States international credibility, led to a deadly attack on US troops and Afghan civilians at the Kabul airport and left many in the lurch.
Blinken again blamed the Trump administration for its February 2020 peace deal with the Taliban that he said had tied Biden's hands, as well as the quick and unexpected collapse of the Afghan government and security forces that led to the Taliban takeover on August 15. Blinken defended the withdrawal and the end of America's longest-running war as “the right thing to do" after 20 years.
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